Duck & Run
by LorienRiverblaze
Summary: Listening to '3 Doors Down' last night I thought "Hmmm, I could write something Mercedes Lackey to go with this." So the end result is "What is life like for the person who *should* have been a Herald? Is life in Valdemar really as good as we think?"


Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the characters; Nia, Analyra, Kiru, and those unnamed ones. The world belongs to Mercedes Lackey, i.e. the setting, Healers, Companions, stuff like that. The song is Duck and Run by 3 Doors Down. None of the Lyrics belong to me; I just use them. Let's see if this is properly depressing, or just stupid.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"Get out there. The vegetables won't pick themselves," her father yelled before returning to her younger sisters. Nia scowled at his back and carefully opened the door.

__

To this world I'm unimportant just

because I have nothing to give.

Nia's father told her siblings constantly how lucky they were to live in Valdemar, how anywhere else they could be suffering under a horrible ruler, how good it was to live in such a free kingdom where you weren't persecuted. "Free kingdom? No persecuting? Hah! Then how would you explain Analyra and her family?"

__

So you call this your free country

tell me why it costs so much to live

"How is it the least deserving get the most in life?" Nia threw another bean pod into the quickly filling basket. "Why does life conspire against us? Da just keeps telling us to stick it out and we'll come out on top. Hah! I'll stick it out, but not because I see gold glittering in the future. It would just prove too many people right if I were to turn away.

__

Tell me why

This world can turn me down

But I won't turn away, oh no

I won't turn around

Nia tossed another bean into the basket when the container went flying, beans soaring through the air. Nia scrabbled around trying to catch some of the air-borne pods.

"Aww, is the little peasant scrambling around in the dirt again? It's a good thing you were already on your knees."

__

All my work and endless measures

never seem to get me very far

Nia ground her teeth in an immense effort to keep from pounding the snotty, stuck up face of Analyra. And her only reward for that effort was more posturing on Analyra's part. Analyra continued to goad Nia, trying to raise some visible anger. Nia was sure her teeth would splinter if she clenched her jaw any tighter.

__

Walk a mile just to move an inch

now even though I'm trying so

damn hard

I'm trying so hard

"Why do you even bother to continue with this insignificant little plot of land? It would be a step up for you family to be beggars," Analyra laughed.

__

This world can turn me down but I

won't turn away

Nia tried with all her might to keep her tongue leashed. Finally Analyra seemed fed up with Nia's refusal to react. She kicked a large clump of earth over Nia's hunched over back and flounced off. Nia straightened her back and smiled. Analyra may run from her problems, but Nia was determined to see them out for good or bad.

__

And I won't duck and run, cause

I'm not built that way

Now that Analyra was gone for the moment, Nia returned to picking beans without hindrance. "Analyra's father can chance his money away because he has money to replace it. I can't risk my father chancing our money; I'm too afraid for our finances."

__

When everything is gone there is

nothing there to fear

"This world may conspire against the poor, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be pulled down to it's level. I've been there for a long time already!"

__

This world cannot bring me down

No cause I'm already here, oh no!

A low rumble of thunder and a sudden darkening of the sky warned of a storm approaching. As if life weren't bad enough. Rain would ruin their already meager crops and leak into the tiny, two-room, run down shack her father, three sisters, and she lived in. Nia leaned back, raised her eyes and an angry fist to the sky to criticize the gods.

__

I am already here, down

on my knees

I am already here, oh no, I am

already here

I must have told you a thousand

times I am not running away

Nia picked up the full and heavy basket, and carried it toward the house at the other end of the field. She repeated a motto to herself, as a way against just giving up right in the middle of the bean patch.

__

I won't duck and run

I won't duck and run

I won't duck and run

No I pass away

Nia's father hit her when she entered the door, demanding to know what had taken her so long. Before she had a chance to answer, as though she would, he cuffed her again in the direction of the small fire they had going in the tiny fireplace. The only relatively safe place to have a fire inside, that corner automatically become the kitchen during the day, and her father's sleeping place at night. Nia snapped the ends off some of the beans to go with the meal. Just as she put the beans over the fire to cook, the clouds opened up and doused the fire. Nia sighed and moved the pot of soup away from the extinguished logs.

__

This world can turn me down but

I won't turn away

"Soup's on!" Nia called to her family. Her younger sisters cautiously approached the table, cowed by her father's anger.

"No beans?" He asked, his voice quiet and deadly. Nia steeled herself for his reaction, shook her head and gestured to the dark fireplace.

"Fire went out," she said. He back-handed her, but lighter this time, only enough to rock her onto her bare heels.

__

And I won't duck and run, cause

I'm not built that way

Nia hardly felt the pain. She'd learned to ignore whatever she felt; anger, hate, rage. Any reaction to her father's violence just incited him to hit her more. That's why her mother hadn't survived; she was too fragile, too dependant on her emotions.

__

When everything is gone there

is nothing there to fear

Nia sat down on the rough-hewn bench and ate her quickly cooling soup. She glanced at her sisters, who were clutching their thread-bare shawls closer around their thin shoulders. Winter was coming quickly, and already chill winds blew through cracks in the walls. Nia sighed. "Only to be expected in this world," she murmured, too low for anyone else to hear.

__

This world cannot

bring me down

No cause I'm already here

Nia had once harbored the dreams of every young child in Valdemar, that a Companion would come and Choose her, take her away from this life. Those dreams had been beaten from her rather quickly. She no longer hoped for a Companion; she just looked forward to some respite from father and farm.

__

This world can turn me down

but I won't turn away

The family finished their meager meal; Nia gathered their bowls and spoons and went out on the porch to wash them in the icy rain, a small act of defiance towards the gods, whose rain sent everyone else scrambling for shelter.

__

And I won't duck and run

cause I'm not built that way

Nia scrubbed the dishes without paying attention to the rain turning her fingers to blocks of ice. She turned deaf ears to her sisters crying about the cold and her father's curses as he tried to relight the fire. She was just too tired to even pretend to care.

__

When everything is gone there

is nothing there to fear

The tiny porch overhang under which Nia sought shelter decided to partially collapse. The only thing that hit her was buckets of icy rain. Nia swore and moved under one of the still barely standing bits of porch. She sat down, drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs; a position of deceptive defeat. In her mind she railed against everything that was pushing her down.

__

This world cannot

bring me down

No cause I'm already here.

*~*~*~*~*~*

_:So there is nothing we can do about her?:_ The Companion asked the Healer seated on his back. The two of them stood on a hill overlooking Nia's house. The rain plastered their hair down, drenching them as the sadly observed the dejected girl slide to the floor of the tiny porch.

_:'Fraid not Kiru. She's hardened herself against the world. No amount of mindHealing will help her. Sorry.:_

Kiru turned away from the tiny farm. The Healer pulled his green cloak closer to his body. Kiru turned his head back for one last look _:Goodbye, my Chosen:_


End file.
